Photo by Jeffrey Veitch, Durham University. Not to be re-used without prior permission.

Who else do you know that can claim the discovery of the remains of a Roman villa at the age of 12? And who published that discovery (in the Journal of Roman Studies) at just age 16?

Rosemary Cramp was hooked on archaeology at an early age and- after a 5 year lectureship at Oxford- became the first female professor (in any subject!) at Durham University in 1971.

She is best known for her groundbreaking work investigating the Anglo-Saxons in England, including the monastic sites of Jarrow and Monkwearmouth.

Though she retired in 1990, even at the age of 84 she is still a common sight among the corridors, chatting to students and lecturers alike.

And her zeal for archaeology has led to the creation of “The Rosemary Cramp Fund”, which has been set up to provide financial support for projects involved in the Anglo-Saxon archaeology of the northeast.

4 thoughts on “Rosemary Cramp”

As well as a brilliant archaeologist and academic Rosemary was also a complete people person who knew and could identify by sight all her diggers and students in later random encounters. in the appropriate weather conditions a rum ration or strawberry’s and ice-cream appeared at tea-break at Monkwearmouth and Jarrow: She also recruited as her nightwatcman the toughest of the gang of horrible little boys who were vandalising the site after the diggers left.